Todays Update 1.6.1 introduces yet another form of emergent gameplay
to Rift,
as if it didnt have enough already. Instant Adventure finally makes
its anticipated debut and delivers on the promise of non-stop load and
go goodness. Bringing together a group of random adventurers
for a scaleable romp through multiple objectives means no worries about
role composition, afk-ers or any of the usual trappings that bog down
group content. But did Instant Adventure miss its mark? Read
on to find out

Instant Adventures is the newest gameplay type from
style="font-style: italic;">Rift that take
level 45+ players on an objective based timed series of challenges.
Instant Adventure is for 1-20 players and scales in difficulty/rewards
based on how many people join up. Instant Adventures are a
sort of paradox as they are non-linear in terms of joining and leaving,
you can come in at any point and continue on, but the objectives are
linear in that they progress through areas and goals. Rewards are given
in the form of planar currency and as Hal Halin told us during an
interview last month in San Francisco the payout is the highest in the
game in terms of risk vs. reward.

Currently Instant Adventures are set in
style="font-style: italic;">Rifts first two
level 50 zones; Stillmoor and Shimmersand and are
non-instanced. Each Instant Adventure group will have their
own adventure, meaning their own set of unique objectives, but there
may be several different groups of adventurers in the same
areas. Players will be able to complete other concurrent
quests they have in those areas as well, including world events as
well.

There is zero down time in these adventures, you are ported directly to
the action and once your groups content in that area is all cleared it
will teleport the lot of you to the next major area  even to another
zone if needed.

Instant Adventures can also be soloed, but you cant lock the group to
force it to be a solo adventure. The real beauty of Instant Adventures
is the strong potential for community building as players from very
divergent paths will find common ground here as there are no artificial
barriers such as focus caps or PvP rank requirements separating them.

Sadly, Instant Adventures has one
very major flaw.A
system that could easily revolutionize all
of gaming has missed the mark by limiting itself to only one segment of
the
population. Instant Adventures are restricted to players near the current
level
cap (level 45 to 50) and are unavailable to most of the leveling population. I know that
style="font-style: italic;">Rift is on rails
and reaching 45
is ridiculously easy, but think of the upside of having this system at
earlier
levels. You wouldnt need to worry about having missed a quest hub, or
not
having a healer for a dungeon. You could easily explore Telara as you
are
ported around by Instant Adventures, stopping to grab new portal
locations,
picking up area quests and making a ton of new friends in the process.
It would
be the best of all worlds and something that could make the process of
leveling
as compelling as reaching the level cap.

Hopefully Trion will continue to
develop and add to Instant
Adventure and that someday it will be a system afforded to players of
all
levels  then it will reach its true potential and take its place among
the
most significant advancements in MMOGs todate.

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RIFT
Game Page.